People shout slogans against the government during a protest against and in support of the government, during the COVID-19 outbreak that took place on July 11, 2021 in Havana, Cuba. REUTERS Alexandre Meneghini File Photo Alexandre Meneghini
Human Rights Watch news: Sunday - Reuters reported on the same day that Cuba's government arbitrarily arrested, beaten and abused protesters following unprecedented demonstrations earlier this year in a bid to strike fear into the populace and clamp down on dissent.
Thousands of Cubans marched on July 11 in the largest protests to rock the communist country since Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution. Security forces locked the rallies amid a flurry of arrests and one death. The streets of the island nation have been mostly quiet since last night.
Human Rights Watch HRW said it had at least 130 cases documented in which security forces violated due process, beat, sexually abused or forced into solitary confinement citizens who participated in rallies it described as overwhelmingly peaceful anti-government protests. Cuba has denied reports of systematic abuses or torture. The government blames the protests on meddling by the United States, who has been openly seeking to force reform on its island neighbor through sanctions and financing for democracy programs for decades.
Human Rights Watch said it had nevertheless gathered evidence of rights abuses by Cuban police and military from phone interviews with activists, victims, relatives, journalists and lawyers, as well as from case files, press reports and photos and videos.
When thousands of Cubans took the streets in July, the Cuban government responded with a brutal strategy of repression designed to suppress fear and instill dissent, said HRW researcher Juan Pappier.
Over 1,000 people were detained, according to Cuban Rights Group and at least 500 are still in house arrest or without a passport.
Cubans have suffered food, fuel and medicine shortages in the last few years, as well as widespread power blackouts since June, issues made acute by two-year pandemic which shuttered global tourism industry critical to keep Cuba's economy afloat
They took to the streets because they had nothing to lose, Human Rights Watch director Jose Miguel Vivanco told reporters in Miami. Well, the government told them first-hand that they had a lot of to lose. The abuse allegations come just weeks ahead of another major protest that was scheduled for Nov. 15 and the first dissident call for protest since July 11. Cuba has already declared the march for the same day the Caribbean island nation plans to reopen to international tourism, making an ill-timed clash with protesters illegal.
HRW Director Vivanco said it was likely the government would be much better prepared this time around.
We shall see if, for the 15th of November, Cubans will be allowed to exercise their universally protected right to peaceful protest, or if they will be stifled by fear.